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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Que Dieu te garde Luc.

Wow, the frailty of life. Like a vapor, like grass that whithers in the field. Here for a moment.

In hockey mad Canada we love and follow our local team. Here in BC that team is the Canucks. The team and sport have aggressively been climbing up my sporting priority ladder over the last 6 years.I'm beginning to live and die with the team like I was born here myself.

The Canucks lucked out with the 10th pick of the draft following the lockout in 2005 and used it to take a young french speaking defenseman named Luc Bourdon. I remember Bob Mckenzie's excited voice as he warmly gave his stamp of approval for the Dave Nonis pick. Immediately I was hooked and a fan. My fandom only grew as a short time later my buddy Dave took us to the world jr. hockey championships here in Vancouver (for Americans, think the Rose bowl for hockey). Luc was on the team that took gold and I remember every time he would touch the puck or check someone the Vancouver crowd would erupt with a deafening "LUUUUUUUUUCCCC!!!!" letting him know that he belonged to the city of Vancouver.

Luc made it up to the team for training camp over the next few seasons and had a few cups of coffee with the squad during the regular season. Again I remember the anticipation and reaction of the crowd as we were waiting for our prized prospect to come into his own. My lasting memory is Luc chasing down the all-world Alexander Ovechkin in the corner and stripping away the puck from him and the crowd responding with another cheer of "LuuuuuuuuCCCC!!!".

The news today is that Luc was killed when his motorcycle collided with the trailer of a semi-truck. He died instantly. I'm amazed once again how fragile life can be. Here was a young man who was just beginning his life. I'm sad for his family and friends. Sad for his team mates.

I was really a big fan of Luc. He was mostly an unknown to everyone except the roto-geeks like myself who follow the transaction wire and minor league stats of the prospects as close as box scores for the big team. I was following and rooting for Luc to make it. Now I just pray God's grace for those that loved him and knew him best.